The seller is an affiliate of Memphis real estate company Loeb Properties Inc. Earl Williams Jr. signed the warranty deed as senior vice president of Loeb Realty Co., the managing general partner of St. Elmo Place.

Built in 2001, the convenience store and gas station sits on 1 acre along the south side of Memphis-Arlington Road near its intersection with St. Elmo Road. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 appraisal is $747,700.

The buyer also filed a $1.4 million deed of trust with absolute assignment of leases and rents, security agreement and fixture filing Dec. 13 through Iberiabank.

Traci L. Ambrosino, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Noble Properties, signed the deed as manager of Noble Net Lease Partners II LLC, the sole member of the borrowing entity.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Aitken Officially Hired to Lead Collierville Schools

There were only a few contract details remaining last week between former Shelby County Schools superintendent John Aitken and the job of superintendent of the Collierville Schools system.

Those were worked out Monday, Dec. 16, and Aitken was hired by the Collierville Schools board, becoming the first leader of one of the six suburban school systems.

Aitken will be paid $185,000 a year in base pay, with the possibility of an annual bonus of $15,000.

The three finalists being considered by the Bartlett board are: David Stephens, deputy superintendent of Shelby County Schools; David Hill, director of academic operations for Memphis Catholic Schools; and M. Wayne Honeycutt, former director of the Loudon County, Tenn., school system.

The Germantown Schools board, meanwhile, approved the settlement with Shelby County Schools by a 3-2 vote. The board’s debate and vote came hours after the Shelby County Commission approved the deal, which is the last of the settlements between the commission, SCS and leaders of the Shelby County’s six suburbs.

In the agreement, Germantown Elementary, Middle and High Schools remain in the Shelby County Schools system. The other five schools within Germantown’s city limits become part of its new municipal school system.

– Bill Dries

Commission Accepts Grant to Replace Ward Road Bridge

Shelby County Commissioners set the stage Monday, Dec. 16, for a new Ward Road Bridge in north Shelby County.

The commission accepted a $982,485 state transportation grant for construction and engineering of the replacement of the bridge over Big Creek. The acceptance includes a $1.3 million subcontract with Dement Construction Co. LLC. In addition to the state grant, funding for the project includes $407,160 in state gas tax funds.

Commissioners sent back to committee a proposal from Memphis City Council member Lee Harris that targets “tax dead” properties for tax breaks and redevelopment incentives. Commissioner Mike Ritz proposed several amendments after he said the original provisions might have been open to some abuse by developers or might have encouraged property owners to not pay property taxes.

If approved by the commission and the council, the proposal’s next stop would be the Tennessee Attorney General’s office for a legal opinion. If the opinion upholds the legality of the program, it would then go back to the council and commission for approval in its final form.

With no debate, the commission rejected a joint resolution from the City Council that called for the formation of a joint city-county committee to study an expansion of the Memphis Cook Convention Center.

And commissioners approved $516,455 worth of replacement vehicles for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department from three dealers: Dobbs Ford, Serra Chevrolet and Sam Swope Automotive. Of the total, $381,551 comes from the department’s drug funds, and the remaining $134,904 is from the department’s general fund budget.

– Bill Dries

First Tennessee to Open Charleston Office

First Tennessee Bank is preparing to open a new office outside Tennessee – its first in Charleston, S.C.